Many individuals live and/or work in potentially dangerous locations or environments or with health conditions where safety and/or health monitoring is required. To date, current processes and technology have been poorly leveraged to address this issue. Very few solutions exist to handle the myriad of combinations of conditions, locations or activity and solutions do not enable a guaranteed outcome by relying on potentially unreliable processes. The lack of solutions results in poor outcomes due to a lack of early warning or prevention, data capture and action or poor response times to people with ill health and injuries. The current outcomes result in poorer health states for the person, and increased costs.
Businesses are increasingly managed from a centralized facility through leveraging technology. Individuals are increasingly deployed to potentially dangerous locations or work with potentially dangerous equipment often with few tools to ensure their security, safety and effectiveness. This often results in increased business risk and costs when employees need assistance due to accidents or workplace violence or when assets stop working properly.
There is a need for further development of systems for flexibly monitoring safety of individuals and proper functioning of equipment.
U.S. Patent Publication 2007/0174438, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes a system for receiving and normalizing notification events from assets or equipment located at various sites within an enterprise. The system includes receiving a notification, identifying the protocol used by the equipment sending the notification, and converting the notification to a normalized format. The system allows notifications from various types of equipment or assets to be handled by one enterprise management system.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2016/0028606, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes a system including a probe controller associated with a host device and configured to abstract a plurality of device-specific monitoring operations associated with a plurality of heterogeneous host devices to a normalized set of monitoring operations. The probe controller facilitates monitoring of the host device using the normalized set of monitoring operations. The system also includes a first specialized probe module associated with the host device and configured to provide device-specific information in response to the normalized set of monitoring operations. The first specialized probe module accesses, in response to receiving a notification from the probe controller to determine a metric associated with the host device, the metric associated with the host device. The first specialized probe module communicates the metric to the probe controller.
US Patent Publication No. 2016/0247129, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes a system for using digital twins for scalable, model-based machine predictive maintenance. The system comprises a plurality of digital twins and a simulation platform. The plurality of digital twins corresponds to a plurality of remotely located physical machines. Each respective digital twin comprises: product nameplate data corresponding to a unique physical machine, one or more simulation models, and a database comprising run time log data collected from sensors associated with the unique physical machine. The simulation platform is configured to process simulation models corresponding to the plurality of digital twins using a plurality of multiprocessor computer systems.
US Patent Publication No. 2011/0156886, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes a system for interfacing between medical devices using different output protocols and medical personnel. A user may configure the system to accept different external device outputs on different input ports of the system. The system may be programmed to correctly associate the input signals with alert conditions based upon the particular input device connected to the particular input port. The system may also be configured to send status information from the input devices to medical personnel by transmitting a message utilizing the output protocol appropriate to the communication system used by the medical personnel requiring the information.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,492,092, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes a body-worn monitor that measures a patient's vital signs (e.g. blood pressure, SpO2, heart rate, respiratory rate, and temperature) while simultaneously characterizing the patient's activity state (e.g. resting, walking, convulsing, falling). The body-worn monitor processes this information to minimize corruption of the vital signs by motion-related artifacts. A software framework generates alarms/alerts based on threshold values that are either preset or determined in real time. The framework additionally includes a series of “heuristic” rules that take the patient's activity state and motion into account, and process the vital signs accordingly.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,886,031, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes a SAN (storage area network) configuration utility used to automatically configure a SAN management system for SAN discovery and management. The SAN configuration utility may be used to identify and verify SAN devices, device firmware, device drivers, etc. for the SAN management system, and to configure the SAN management system to support one or more previously incompatible SAN devices.
US Patent Publication No. 2008/0097913, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes a method which includes the steps of receiving data wirelessly from a plurality of medical devices, transmitting the data to an intermediary device (such as a properly equipped mobile telephone or personal digital assistant), and formatting a message including the received data for transmission to a medical data server. This method can be practiced automatically to allow a medical device for a patient or other subject to be monitored without requiring the patient to manually enter information. This method also allows for multiple different medical devices to be monitored, even where such devices each communicate on different frequencies and/or using different communication protocols.
US Patent Publication No. 2016/0093197, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes a personal monitoring and emergency communications system including a wrist worn apparatus carried by a monitored person for minimizing response time during an emergency. The system includes an array of sensors for periodically sensing vital biometric parameters of the monitored person and a memory for storing and comparing the sensed parameters to a pre-stored standard range of the vital parameters for providing a comparator signal. The system also has an alarm circuit for evaluating the comparator signal for providing an emergency alarm signal when the vital parameters are not within the pre-stored standard range, and a signal transmitter for providing activation, encoding and immediate broadcasting of the alarm signal from the wrist worn apparatus to a dispatcher call center via a communication link. The alarm signal includes the vital parameters and exact location of the monitored person. The dispatcher call center communicates with a medical response team closest to the monitored person.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,389,464, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes a site server to which devices to be managed are connected. The site server is configurable from remote locations using internet browser technology. The site server is Web-configurable to manage different types of devices without requiring device-specific software development. Alarm events, alert monitoring, remote monitoring and remote trouble-shooting are web-enabled. Device information can be accessed globally via a web or internet browser. The site server can deliver device information via facsimile, paging, electronic mail and management traps. The site server permits connection of different types of devices, including standards-compliant devices and non-compliant devices which may be from different vendors.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,378,361, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes a threat detection system for detecting threat activity in a protected computer system. The system includes anomaly sensors of distinct types including user-activity sensors, host-activity sensors and application-activity sensors. Each sensor builds a history of pertinent activity over a training period, and during a subsequent detection period the sensor compares current activity to the history to detect new activity. The new activity is identified in respective sensor output. A set of correlators of distinct types are used that correspond to different stages of threat activity according to modeled threat behavior. Each correlator receives output of one or more different-type sensors and applies logical and/or temporal testing to detect activity patterns of the different stages. The results of the logical and/or temporal testing are used to generate alert outputs for a human or machine user.
International Patent Publication No. WO2015/142300, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes a system wherein all data received from information technology assets such as a computer or a network switch or a sensor in different domains such as software, network, hardware or industrial systems in a production field is collected in one pool, ontologies are created based on the operation of the assets and their interactions by determining working relations between the assets and using these working relations, and are inspected using an effect analysis method and a root cause analysis method, characterized by comprising a triple storage database to which ontology scheme files are conveyed, a content addition unit through which assets are added to the system, an inference engine allowing a rule-based inference on the ontologies, an effect analysis unit determining the effect that may occur in consequence of alarm data, and a root cause analysis unit determining the reason of the alarms.
Japan Patent Publication No. 2007296326, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes a system and method for monitoring posture movement of a patient. Networks for constituting devices in various levels detect data, process and transmit the data between the constituting devices, and self-organize into peer group layers of the constituent devices to perform tasks or functions for monitoring a posture and movement of a patient. A general peer group includes various lower level pier groups with constituting devices. Detections, calculations, data variances, or communication tasks of various levels are performed by adjustment of functions such as communication and others between a plurality of relatively simple constituent devices of the networks. Tasks and functions of network constituent devices are adjusted by using communication protocols of symmetric and asymmetric codes and others. When a posture and movement out of a tolerance range is detected, an alarm signal may be transmitted to the patient, a doctor and other caregivers.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,207,041, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes open platform architecture and methods for shared resource access management. A redirection module in kernel space receives requests for access to resources from applications in user space. The redirection module routes signals representative of the received requests to a device driver interface in user space. Components of the device driver interface include resource management modules and device drivers that correspond to available resources. The resource management modules generate queries to the device drivers regarding availability of the requested resources. Upon receipt of resource status information from the device drivers, components of the device driver interface generate schedules for granting access to the requested resources. Further, the device driver interface components control access to the resources in accordance with the generated schedules including issuing responses to the requesting applications and the device drivers of the requested resources.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0120826, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes a system for enabling a wireless wide area network communication capable of aggregating and disseminating information for the telematics domain, without the need of additional external network infrastructure, such as communication towers and central switch. The invention offers a new method for telematics, wherein each network object communicates only with network objects in its immediate surrounding using WLAN/PAN technologies. The information reaches remote network objects by continues exchanges of information between close network objects using WLAN/PAN technology. The system includes an aggregating disseminating communication component (ADCC) that is added to each network object. The ADCC collects traffic related information and builds an internal traffic map of the area. The underlying network object can initiate transmission of information using the ADCC. The ADCC is capable of receiving information and, if needed, the received information is updated via the underlying network object. The information is then exchanged to the next network object.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2012/0010906, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes a method for providing a customer with a competitive insurance quote from an insurance carrier includes collecting driving information relating to a customer for a time period, generating a driving report for the time period, providing the driving report to at least two potential insurance carriers, requesting insurance bids from the potential insurance carriers, and sending at least one of the insurance bids to the customer.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0182534, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes a method of acquiring vehicle data from a vehicle data bus is disclosed. The method is responsive to the execution of a telematics application on a local telematics unit. The method comprises first accessing a local vehicle library, in response to vehicle data requests from the application. The local vehicle library then carries out steps comprising: retrieving vehicle data bus information from a database; using the vehicle data bus information to extract vehicle data from the vehicle data bus, the vehicle data corresponding to the requests for vehicle parameter data; interpreting the retrieved vehicle data; and providing the interpreted data to the telematics application to satisfy the request for vehicle data.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0319665, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes methods, systems, and apparatuses for aftermarket telematics. In one aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising a telematics control unit configured for consumer installation, consumer use, and the like. The apparatus can be installed in a vehicle. In another aspect, provided are systems and methods for operation of the apparatus.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2013/0183924, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes a system which establishes a perimeter around an area, and mobile devices within the established perimeter communicate with a server that provides and collects personal and asset safety information. The provided information might enable users associated with the mobile devices to plan actions or take routes based on a given criteria, such as a safest route, through display on the mobile device. The collected information from the mobile device might be location, emergency event, environmental factors, sensor information and the like, which might then be communicated to users and/or administrators of the system. Location information, such as a global positioning system (GPS), might provide tracking of mobile devices and users or assets associated with each mobile device. GPS functionality associates latitude, longitude and elevation (X-Y-Z coordinate axis) data with the collected and provided information.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2011/0111728, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes a system and method for providing a conduit to send information to emergency services from a wireless device. Also described are systems and methods for registering an alarm button on a wireless device and sending to public and/or private emergency services providers information related to the wireless device including its location, information about a wireless device end user and/or subscriber associated with the wireless device, and information recorded by one or more wireless devices during and subsequent to the time the alarm button is activated.
There continues to be a need for improvements in sensor-based monitoring of individuals and equipment via connection of multiple devices and/or sensors to a monitoring system to ensure safety of individuals and proper functioning of equipment.